Single Dad. Jennifer Greene
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Название: Single Dad
Автор: Jennifer Greene
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
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Somehow he was failing to gain any comprehension of the six-year-old feminine mind. “Did you ever see me take anything that wasn’t mine?”
“No, Daddy.”
“Did you ever see me touch anything that didn’t belong to me?”
“No, Daddy.”
He was parked, the engine off, and she wanted out of the Bronco in the worst way. It wasn’t as if he were gaining any ground. “Okay, skedaddle. I’ll be in to make dinner in just a second.”
She skedaddled faster than a puppy with a burr, but Josh sat in the silence for a moment longer. Their house was at the end of a cul-de-sac on the hilltop. Matching frame bungalows lined the street, typical of a working-class neighborhood. Nothing fancy, but it wasn’t rough. The kids had a ravine and woods to play in. Clusters of old maples and ash and birch trees lined the block. Anyone could identify his house as being womanless, though.
Two rusty bicycles lay abandoned in the yard, not put away. The curtains in the front window didn’t hang the way a woman seemed to genetically know how to hang the blasted things. There were no flowers planted in the beds. And inside, Josh already knew he was going to find dirty glasses, thrown towels, shoes and clothes that reproduced in the strangest places, and a bathroom that risked being condemned by the health department. His bedroom may—may—have been left sacrosanct, but for sure the only company he was likely to find in that lonely double bed was one of the boy’s basketballs.
Josh sighed with exasperation. He’d screwed up plenty in his life, but he valued integrity and tried to pass on that value to his kids. The problem was, it was hard to climb all over his daughter for falling prey to an irresistible impulse...when he personally knew how easily that could happen.
He’d taken one look at Ms. Lindstrom and felt as if he’d stepped in a land mine of blatant, irresistible impulses. He’d bet the bank that silvery blond hair reached her waist in length. The green eyes and pearl skin and that soft mouth still lingered in his mind. So did the swell of her breasts peeking out of that open-throated shirt. He suddenly recalled—to the day—how long he’d been celibate, which sure as hell wasn’t his nature or his choice.
It wasn’t as if anything had changed. There wasn’t a sane woman on the planet who’d take him and his brood on. And assuming he had the time and energy to pursue a woman—which he didn’t—he’d never pick a flighty seller-of-magic. His kids needed stability. Hell, so did he. But one look in those almond-shaped eyes had sparked a chemical combustion that woke up every masculine hormone. He likened it to trying to sleep when someone was hitting you over the head with a club.
Josh wasn’t going to do anything about it.
He just wasn’t going to lie to himself and pretend the feeling never happened. Irresistible impulses were a human frailty. Six-year-olds had an understandably difficult problem controlling them. A man his age—thank God—was smarter, older, wiser.
The safest thing to do was to put her straight, totally and completely, out of his mind.
And he did.
Two
Uh-oh. It was a good thing that Ariel glanced up when the tinkling of the bell announced someone had entered the store. A second later, and she might have missed the urchin in the backward baseball cap and oversize Pittsburgh Steelers T-shirt.
She hadn’t seen Patrice in days—nor expected to—but temporarily she had her hands full. The entire morning had been an exercise in commotion and locomotion. Dot wasn’t due in until three. The phone refused to stop ringing; three browsers were wandering around; a woman lunch shopper was waiting at the cash register to buy earrings; and Ariel was stuck behind the jewelry counter with a gentleman who was sweating blood, trying to pick out a present for his wife.
The young blond man fingered a moonstone-and-mother-of-pearl pendant, which was about the ninetieth thing he’d considered, and shot her a helpless look. “Do you think she’ll like it?”
Since Ariel had never met his wife, she didn’t have a clue. “I think it’s beautiful myself, and I don’t see how you can go too wrong with that—not if she likes antiquey-type jewelry.”
“She loves all kinds of antiquey stuff. But this has to be special.” He confided, “We’ve been married six months today.”
By today’s divorce statistics, enduring six months together was probably a record, but Ariel had no time to give him an “attaboy.” The woman at the cash register was impatiently tapping her foot. The phone rang again. And normally Ariel would have been happy to spend all day with blondie—he was really a darling, just a little short in the decision-making department. But she felt uneasy about Killer being in the store alone, and the urchin had already disappeared from sight.
“I’ll tell you what,” she told the gentleman. “You think about this for a minute, while I take care of the lady up front, and I’ll be right back.” She jogged to the front, quickly dealt with the phone call, rang up the sale, bagged it, answered a fast question from the browsers on stained-glass prices and galloped back to her man.
En route, she caught a glimpse of the miniature brunette near the magic aisle, which was enough to relieve her mind.
She was delighted to see the child again. She also believed the little one’s ardent promises about never stealing again. It was just that she’d met few adults who could keep their promises—especially ardently made promises—and she wasn’t about to believe the six-year-old had mastered temptation. Thankfully, the magic tricks were all safely locked inside the glass cabinet. She really didn’t want to see the urchin get into any more trouble.
The gentleman eventually chose a black-button pearl bracelet and paid—bless him!—in cash; the earrings shopper left; and the three browsers meandered to the front with their stained-glass window ornaments. Once they were gone, the transition from commotion to total silence was astoundingly quick. Ariel hustled toward the magic aisle.
Killer’s nose was pressed to the glass. “Hi,” she said, when Ariel crouched down.
“Hi, back.”
“I have money today.” To illustrate proof, Killer pushed up the Pittsburgh Steelers T-shirt and dug in the pockets of her cherry-red shorts. Once all the pockets were turned inside out, five dollars in crumpled ones and change gradually accumulated on the counter.
“Wow. You have lots of money.”
“I want a magic trick. If that’s okay.” She hesitated. “I wasn’t sure if it was okay if I came back. Maybe you’re still mad at me.”
“I was never mad at you, Killer. You made a mistake. I’ve made a few mistakes myself. And you’re welcome to come in the store as often as you want, sweetie, as long as you have your dad’s permission.”
“He’s gone during the day. But I asked Mary Sue. She takes care of me, and she said yes. I can pretty much go anyplace as long as I don’t have to cross streets, and all I gotta do to get here is walk down the ravine and then up the sidewalk and then down the alley.”
Well, that settled the issue of permission, but the purchase of the magic trick was a more complicated business. The quest for the Holy Grail never took this СКАЧАТЬ